“Families on the Move” was selected as our theme in 2017 to address pressing challenges for families in Europe and beyond. As a European organisation representing the interests of families and striving to build inclusive European societies, we decided to focus on four challenges which require immediate action in the form of policy, legislation and support services to empower families:

-The economic challenges of families moving internally in the EU for work reasons, and the need for services and benefits to support them in those moves. Especially households with special support needs which tend to face even more legal, practical, institutional barriers.

-The digital challenges posed by the increasing digitalisation of our lives, and the need to empower families to “take back the internet”, namely to shape and influence their digital environment so that families can move freely online in respect of their data privacy and safety.

-The migration challenges faced by the EU continent, trying to shape the current debates by highlighting the difficulties of families moving geographically from outside Europe to the EU looking for a safe haven.

-The social challenges linked to changing family patterns towards more dual earner households with dual care needs (for children and older parents), and the urgent need to put in place worklife balance policies and legislation which enable families to reconcile these two fundamental aspects of their lives.

We will address these challenges by organizing a series of workshops on four “moves”: economic, digital, geographic, and social. For each move, we’re bringing together key stakeholders and a variety of perspectives, to firstly discuss the state of play and then pave the way for actions and solutions.

Workshop speakers include representatives from European and national civil society, the European Commission (three departments EMPL, HOME, CNECT), the Organisation for European Cooperation and Development, the UNHCR, Migration Policy Group, Council of Europe, European and national social partners (ETUC, Business Europe, Dutch trade unions), researchers from universities involved in different EU-wide projects, policy-makers in national government, company representatives, and more.

For more specific information on the conference, please consult our provisional programme, which may be subject to updates. Please also be advised that places are limited (maximum 100 seats) so we recommend booking in advance. Get your tickets HERE.